Harriers across the state will hit the fields and trails this week to officially reign in the 2023 cross country season.
Locally, the annual Chick-fil-A Beckley Invitational, ran at Beckley-Stratton Middle School, has been the kick-off race and once again, the field is loaded with top-ranked teams in both the high school and middle school divisions.
Braxton County is the defending champion on the girls side and comes into the race as the preseason No. 1 ranked team in Class AA. The Eagles are led by Addison Lloyd who is ranked No. 2 individually in the state and is joined by teammates Laura Cain (11) and Bethany Pain (13).
Beckley ran second last year and returns a strong team that is ranked No. 8 in Class AAA. The Flying Eagles are powered by four highly experienced seniors. Kyndall Ince, Lauren Curtis, Cecilia Lindley and Hannah Keiling all finished top-10 or better in the 2022 regional meet.
Bella Boggs from Charleston Catholic was the girls winner last year and is ranked No. 3 to open the season. Her teammate, Hannah Fisher is ranked No. 10.
Haley Johnson (7) from Nicholas County and Carli Spade (17) from PikeView could make a run at the title this year for the girls.
Richwood will be in Beckley Saturday as well and the Lady Jacks enter the season ranked No. 8 overall led by Baylee Jarrett (21) and Carlee Dillard (29). Jarrett finished in eighth place in 2022.
Woodrow Wilson won the boys race last year and will be the favorite to repeat. The Flying Eagles are also the AAA Region 3 defending champions. They are followed by George Washington who should give the host team a run for its money this year.
Beckley is ranked 10th in AAA and is also led by a quartet of seniors in Brandon Canaday (14), Robert Shirey, Michael Haddadin and Mason Nettles.
“We feel like both teams will be very good this year,” Beckley head coach George Barbera said. “The best part about it is the amount of freshman that we have coming in. This is one of our best years in regards to freshman when it comes to numbers and experienced runners. We have four or five freshman girls and boys. We are really excited about that.”
PikeView and Nicholas County are ranked sixth and seventh in Class AA, respectively, and both will challenge for the boys title this year. The Panthers won the AA Region 3 crown last year and return Matt Murphy (9) who will anchor the squad.
Nicholas has two top-ranked runners in Luke Barr (10) and Johnny Walkup (11) who are back for their junior season. A name to keep an eye on that will make a charge for the top spot is upstart Tommy Wikel (20) from Wyoming East.
The Charleston Catholic boys team comes in ranked No. 4 in Class A and will have two strong contenders in Isaac Collins (11) and Hunter Perry (14).
The course opens at 7:30 a.m. and the high school girls open the event at 9:15 a.m.
There will be a spectator fee of $7 per person. Beckley sporting events use digital tickets which are available at the link below:
https://gofan.co/event/1055798?schoolId=WV2696
Chick-fil-A Beckley Invitational Participants:
High School
Braxton County, Bluefield, Charleston Catholic, George Washington, Greenbrier East, Herbert Hoover, Independence, Jefferson Christian, Meadow Bridge, Nicholas County, Oak Hill, Pikeview, Princeton, Richwood, River View, St Albans, Scott, Summers County, Teays Valley Christian, Westside, Woodrow Wilson, Wyoming East
Middle School
Beckley-Stratton, Braxton County, Charleston Catholic, Eastern Greenbrier, Elkview, Glen Fork, Independence, Jefferson Christian, Madison, Mullens, Oceana, Oak Hill, Park, Pikeview, Pineville, Princeton, Richwood, Road Branch, St. Francis, Summersville.
Race Times:
7:30 am Course Opens (JV and Varsity run together)
9:15 am High School Girls
10:00 am High School Boys
10:30 am HS Awards
11:00 am Middle School Girls
11:45 am Middle School Boys
12:30 pm MS Awards
